Gibbs condemns criticism from 'professional left'

It's a rare political strategy that takes on the party base in a midterm election year, but the White House apparently sees no problem in doing so.

In an interview lighting up the blogosphere Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs blows up at criticism directed at President Obama from what he calls "the professional left."

"I hear these people saying he's like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested," Gibbs told The Hill's Sam Youngman in an interview. "I mean, it's crazy."

Gibbs goes on to say the "professional left" will only be "satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we've eliminated the Pentagon. That's not reality."

The White House in general - and Gibbs, in particular - has accused the Democratic Party base of selective memory when it comes to Obama and his campaign pledges.

Yes, Obama did unequivocally oppose the Iraq war and pledged to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, two promises that endeared him to the left.

But Guantanamo remains open and the health care overhaul passed without a so-called public option, an element the left viewed as essential (if not exactly "Canadian healthcare.")

In an interview at the end of last year with the Post, Obama himself said "I didn't campaign on the public option," even though his platform did include mention of one as part of a broader scheme to reduce costs. PolitiFact - the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking operation - rated the assertion "barely true" since the public option was not a prominent part of his plan.

And while the left opposed Obama's decision last year to escalate the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, White House officials have said that should not have come as a surprise, given his pledge during the campaign to refocus attention on a war he said had been neglected for years.

Gibbs expressed his ire after months of grumbling from the left over about the perceived pragmatism of Obama's senior advisers, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel top among them.

And Gibbs himself got cross-wise recently with one of the left's leading lights, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.), who took him to task for stating (factually) that Republicans could take control of the chamber in November.

But parties need excited bases in low-turnout midterm election seasons, and why the White House is irritating the left at this point is a bit puzzling.

"They wouldn't be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president," Gibbs told The Hill.

UPDATE, 12:27 p.m.:

Gibbs sent the following statement to the Post and other media organizations Tuesday regarding his comments:

"I watch too much cable, I admit. Day after day it gets frustrating. Yesterday I watched as someone called legislation to prevent teacher layoffs a bailout - but I know that's not a view held by many, nor were the views I was frustrated about.

So what I may have said in-artfully, let me say this way - since coming to office in January 2009, this White House and Congress have worked tirelessly to put our country back on the right path. Most importantly, to dig our way out of a huge recession and build an economy that makes America more competitive and our middle class more secure. Some are frustrated that the change we want hasn't come fast enough for many Americans. That we all understand.

But in 17 months, we have seen Wall Street reform, historic health care reform, fair pay for women, a recovery act that pulled us back from a depression and got our economy moving again, record investments in clean energy that are creating jobs, student loan reforms so families can afford college, a weapons system canceled that the Pentagon didn't want, reset our relationship with the world and negotiated a nuclear weapons treaty that gets us closer to a world without fear of these weapons, just to name a few. And at the end of this month, 90,000 troops will have left Iraq and our combat mission will come to an end.

Even so, we will continue to work each day on the promises and commitments that the President made traveling all over this country for two years and produce the change we know is possible.

In November, America will get to choose between going back to the failed policies that got us into this mess, or moving forward with the policies that are leading us out.

So we should all, me included, stop fighting each other and arguing about our differences on certain policies, and instead work together to make sure everyone knows what is at stake because we've come too far to turn back now."

UPDATE, 3:06 p.m.:

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) says Gibbs should resign. "This is not the first time that Mr. Gibbs has made untoward and inflammatory comments and I certainly hope that people in the White House don't share his view that the left is unimportant to the president," he said. "I understand him having some loyalty to the president who employs him, but I think he's walking over the line."

I am reminded of a world-famous satirical editorial cartoon I saw years ago displayed in a Holocaust Memorial at the site of the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.

It was published in a German newspaper some time in the late 1920s - early 1930s, during the run up to the political madness that is nowadays simplistically identified with the crazy AUSTRIAN Schickelgruber --- but which in reality involved MANY MORE crazy fools than just HIM!

It showed, from an ostensible "high-altitude" perspective and an angle that revealed the overview, a large number of small people congregated in a valley below a mountain, preparing to march on up and over the top. A column of militaristic minions is seen already marching up --- and then PLUNGING OVER THE EDGE that is CONCEALED from all the folks still down at the lower levels, beyond which the "vanguard" has already plunged off down into the valley below, where a great many skeletons can be seen decomposing.

and here I thought Obama was supposed to be a socialist. If the socialists hate him, just maybe he's actually just barely left of center and the rhetoric from the right is just a tad overdone?
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Bingo!.. so Obama gets hammered by the right wing Republican propaganda regime that masquerades as news and the petulant left lambastes him because he hasn't done enough and the center is fed up with both of the extremes. Gibbs is absolutely correct in his analysis. I think he was indeed inartful in expressing it but Lord knows he is working for a President that is trying to deal with significant problems and has to deal with the party of no idiots and the "we didn't get everything we want and deserve crowd" on the left. OK professional left, take it from a fellow liberal who just happens to live in Virginia for the past ten years --- we do NOT constitute a majority in this country. If we add every moderate Democrat to our ranks we still would not have a plurality. The ONLY reason we won the Presidency and the Senate was conservative and moderate Democrats and yes that includes Ben Nelson. So as a former New Yorker let me assure all the coastal and urban liberals that the rest of this country doesn't think about things exactly as you do. They like some of our ideas and think some of them are insane. We can't win a majority in Congress without pragmatic and non ideological Democrats in Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, etc. you morons. When you decide that the President, who has moved the needle to the left and back towards center from the far right direction it has been pointed at since 2001, hasn't done enough, you need to reexamine your goals and be atisfied (not content, satisfied) with the half a loaf you won. But if you think for one minute liberal policies are the dominant force in America you are delusional.

Robert Gibbs talks to much - loose lips sinks ships. I find it hard to believe that President Obama would want his private thoughts on a multitude of political matters published for public consumption. I have watched in horror as Gibbs makes ill-advised comments that will be used by FalseNews(Fox) and the Republicans teabags for political advantage in the midterm elections. Obama needs to put a muzzle on Gibbs and demand that the press secretary stick to the script OKed by the administration prior to news conferences. Robert Gibbs shouldn't be offering his personal opinions about the machination of the body politic, his function is to speak FOR the President.

I agree with Speaker Nancy Pelosi's revulsion of Robert Gibbs negative comments regarding the Democrats holding on to a majority in the House after the midterm elections. Gibbs, if you don't have something positive to say about the Democrats - keep your mouth shut. Fox & the Republican teabags will create plenty of negative propaganda to attack the Democrats with in the fall elections.

Correction Mr. Gibbs, your boss wants a Cuban style health care system, the more maexist/socialist it can be ... he's all for it. OBTW, the messiah and Rahmbo are the professional left.
The MSNBC crowd should wallow in its irrelevance and just go away.

Excuse me, "Thinker", but it isn't so much that the GOP is making the comparison of Obama to Bush. They and their base, hate Obama, hate anything that could possibly make him and America successful, pretty much out of spite due to the severe rejection of Bush in wake of his politics, multiple personal and policy failures, and subsequent demolition of the way our federal gov't works (or doesn't work). You know the ones - the Palin groupies, the Tea Party, "Obama's the anti-Christ", non-thinking Americans. So, forget what they say.

Us liberals, so-called far-lefties (at least some), and our Democratic brethren, however, should be listened to. I'm more mid-left. I can see the comparisons to Bush being made from our side. Wanna know why? The promises Obama made to be different. He's an intelligent, well-spoken, clear-thinking person, something America missed while Bush was in power.

However, with all the support he got from indies and libs, he's focused more on bipartisanship and compromise than making actual change happen. He's had some major accomplishments, legislatively, but how much of it was watered-down? How many times did Dems start just barely left of center only to come on the formerly moderate Republican side of the issue (which the GOP would still vote against)?

Frankly, his *leadership* has been disappointing, as he's cared more about building a nonexistent coalition than standing up for our ideas. The other side called him "liberal", but that's not how he governs. He cares more about fitting in with them - Hatch/Grassley's healthcare plan from the mid-90s in response to Hillarycare?? - than building his base. What's wrong with Medicare for all - if it needs fixing anyway? He thinks we're all in the bag. I'm sure as hell not voting in Nov.

On being like Bush, he picked Geithner, a tax cheat and former part of the Wall Street problem, and Salazar, an oil drilling supporter for the Interior. Sounds like what Bush would do. He came out in support of more drilling just weeks prior to the BP fallout when he ran against the Drill Baby Drill crowd and won, and promotes green jobs/cleaner energy.

The bank bailouts, which started under Bush, could've had strings attached, once he was in office. The stimulus he signed should've had a lot more infrastructure dollars, but it certainly has 40% tax cuts in ~$800 mil, which Republicans love to forget. You could've paid all of the unemployed about $15K for 2 years to fix all the infrastructural needs of our country, instead. There's still a lot of Bush national security policy that hasn't changed. The EPA hasn't changed. MMS should've changed. He hasn't called out GOP liars.

There's a lot of waffling here, and part of this, is because of who Obama chose to surround himself with. Why all the former Clinton folk? Why are lobbyists still allowed to practically craft our laws? Why is Fox/GOP given similar weight to *us*? Bush got every bad thing he wanted - but we never get parity.

One more group the WH disapproves of and apparently considers delusional. So far, only the unions, Detroit and Wall Street are worthy causes deserving of hundreds of billions in bailouts. The new teacher bailout will cost seniors in my community who rely on food aid to get buy. How can any American support such discrimination by this administration? It is not okay to steal from one group to keep another afloat, period.

What a riot. Republican's trying to bad mouth Obama by comparing him to Bush!!

OMG. What a freaking riot!

George Bush Jr. was a plague upon this country. He had to outright steal an election to get the White House. His Daddy's friends stole it for him and gave it to him. Florida. Chads. Brothers. Jimmy Baker, Supreme Court favors.

Obama is a Democrat. And as much as I preferred Hillary - I'm proud of everything he's done... everyone on the extreme left needs to slide to the middle. It's called "balance".

Democrats most closely mirror the deepest meanings and crux of Democracy. Diversity, open dialogue, inclusion of all and freedom of speech, religion/spirt and choices.

Democrats CAN argue within their own ranks because there IS diversity. But Gibbs should not have spoken in such terms as "drug tested". And I do not think it was craftily planned to attract other voters. In the end the most important thing is that we never stoop to the likes of the Republican bottom feeders.

Republicans would have no party without pandering to the Jesus Factor. Without that even the extreme "White Ring" would not stand with them. They are a nasty group of self serving money men. That's all.

No Kings and no Princes. Like the GW dynasty that took us from surpluses to infinite deficits.

Both Georges, Dumbsfeld and Cheney should all be pried from under their well padded, social welfare funded rocks like Saddam (who did nothing to us but gave them a reason to fund a war which made the oil billionaires richer) and put them on trial for taking this country to where it is today. Victims of Wall Street across this country were left waiting weeks for them to bail out Main Street! It took them only weeks to bail out the billionaires. Republicans held up this help to average Americans... while they went home to go golfing on Memorial Day.

No - it's MAIN STREET - who knows and remembers who is who. The American people are not confused about why we are where we are. In November we'll remember well. And right after the election? Watch the Republicans and Bush Dynasty / Cheney / Dumbsfeld oil billionaires jack that price of heating oil with their Saudi "old friends" (Cheney said at one of their funerals).

Republicans are the despicable and steeped in self interest. They claim any challenge to their centralized Wealth (not government) as Socialism... a word defined as "sharing". That is an un-Democratic value. un-American. And they convince anyone with a penny and a half that they are part of the super wealthy tribe.

Who's going to hell? Those who mix money with the church - and those who don't like to share. Who said so? Jesus.

It is said that in Washington, DC a “gaffe” is when someone in politics accidentally speaks the truth. Well, I say “Hooray!” for Robert Gibbs gaffe. He is, in my humble opinion, exactly right! The liberal left is way too often a Democratic President’s worse nightmare---they were for Carter (for whom I worked), Clinton and now Obama. Why? Because: A) You can never do enough to satisfy them, and, B) if you were to do so, you probably shouldn’t have been elected in the first place.

The "Left" needs to learn strategy to better aid their causes. While it is admirable that they push for the good issues, it is also true that it's detrimental to the country to do so in such a public fashion that undermines the Democratic party. The Left always take things to the mat and we always seem to end up living with a Republican resurgence because of the Left's inability to strategize, mobilize and to manage its criticisms more effectively, so an not to give strength to the opposition. None of the Left's agenda will be realized without a Democrat in the White House but ALL of their agenda will be squashed by Republicans coming back because of the perception the Left has helped amplify about Obama not being strong enough and not having delivered enough. While I can agree with most of this, it's time the Left stopped cutting off their noses to spite their faces. Their ALL or NOTHING strategy fails them, indeed all of us, every time.

Well, I have a news flash for this little pin-headed sycophant: National health care works and the Pentagon is an economic drain and an amoral cancer that becomes more terminal with each passing moment, with their protracted and blantantly illegal wars dragging us all into the primordial quagmire. If he doesn't like the criticsim coming from the some parts of the so-called left, then maybe he needs to grow a spine and get a different reality.

Is Gibbs crazy like a fox? If the entire left becomes energized behind hating him, the Dems will maintain control in the mid-terms. I have to laugh at PC America. Gibbs is a Dem so he can't criticize other Democrats? He can't state the obvious...there are enough seats up for grabs that the GOP could gain control of the house. He didn't say they would...he said they could. I think as Americans we like to be offended...even by the truth. At some time in the last 25-30 years we became a society hyper sensitive to anything and everything...but especially the truth.

I agree with Gibbs. His observations were validated for me when the "professional progressives", rather than engaging in an honest self-assessment of the potential damage their incessant negativity is creating, turned dismissive and defensive and attacked and/or ridiculed Gibbs while congratulating themselves on their apparently "superior" insights into how things really ought to be.

In the world I live and work in, when a criticism is received, the expectation is honest self-appraisal and action toward correction. The media seems to chronically exempt themselves from this expectation. Do "professional" progressives really think they are perfect? Do they have any insight into the damage they are doing?

The coverage of this administration has been largely stridently negative from both the right and the left. Objectivity is hard to find. Celebration is apparently forbidden or in bad form. There appears to be an obsessive need to NEVER say anything affirming about this administration. What is that all about?

Case in point: At the age of 67, I witnessed something I did not think I would live to see: the swearing in of a new member of the Supreme Court that changed the gender composition of this body, which now has three women. It was treated by the media as a "ho hum" event, with progressives fretting that she was not liberal enough and that once more President Obama did not do the confrontational thing and pick a super-liberal. If the "professional progressives" want to complain incessantly about President Obama not being adversarial enough, that is their privilege. I would respect them more if they spent an equal amount of their time acknowledging his successes under very difficult circumstances.

I'm from the left. I don't agree with everything Obama has done, but I still like him a whole lot better than the prior administration. I will support him in 2012 based on his accomplishments in his first 1.5 years in office.

Nobody gets everything they want. Life is about trade-offs. The President cannot just represent my interests, he must represent the interests of 300 million people. The Afghan war is a great example. In 2009, it wasn't just Afghanistan that was in trouble, but a nuclear armed Pakistan. Terrorist attacks had increased in Pakistan about 100 fold since the middle of the decade and things were going from bad to worse. Pakistan couldn't control terrorism or stop it. Today, the terrorist in the lawless frontier areas are getting squeezed badly and terrorism inside the larger Pakistani cities has declined. There is far less chance Pakistan will become a nuclear armed militant state as a result.

Middle East peace is moving forward slowly but it had too. There was so much anger, hate, distrust and fear in early 2009 you couldn't get anyone to talk. Due to US efforts, there has been some tempering of the hyperbole and there is at least a little hope that peace is possible.

Look around. The financial house of cards was collapsing, jobs were being shed at a huge rate, bankruptcies were piling up and any improvement in the health care situation looked like a dream. Things have stabilized now, improved slightly and there is hope. Major investments were made in infrastructure and education that are long term investments in our future. Things have improved, but some only wish to see what they don't have instead of what they do have.

This is great - the Dems are now attacking themselves, while the GOP cruises to a massive midterm victory and takeover of Capitol Hill, with most of the heavy lifting being done by the Dems themselves!

"they must be on drugs"? What's the big deal the left is always on drugs, they want them to come across the border and they want them legalized. The only problem with Gibbs' assertion is that those on drugs usually don't care what O does as long as the checks keep coming. Gibbs is just saying what everyone already knows.

I'm sure as hell not the professional left - retired law enforcement, non-union, southern, and contrary to most conservative thinkers here, I'm white - I just think we ought to spend our money at home - I voted for Obama to get us the hell out of unnecessary wars started on lies (I hated my child lying to me when she was a teenager, and I hate being lied to now)- Democrats are still what they have always been - they let the louder voices dictate and dominate the conversation; they cannot get a message out on issues that positively affect the American people because they let talk radio and nutcase Republican politicians grab the headlines - I'm not a socialist; I'd love to see both sides coming together with compromises for the good of the country; unfortunately, the Republicans ain't gonna do that; their only concerned at the juncture with power and enriching the rich at the expense of the middle class (which too many of them are too dumbed down to see they're getting manipulated) and the country can go to hell (infrastructure, education, public health, be damned)--

The nutcase right thinks he's a socialist because he passed a health care reform bill virtually IDENTICAL to the one proposed by Republicans (as a response to HillaryCare) in the early 90s. They think he's a communist because he wants to let taxes on the rich rise to rates LOWER than they were under noted collectivist Ronald Reagan. These people are completely unhinged, completely divorced from reality and are probably not educable human beings. But they never run out of ranting energy, that's for sure.

Meanwhile some on the left are upset at Obama because, basically, we live in a country over-run by FauxNews-brainwashed idiots, and he's had to compromise on some things. Step out of your wonderful Berkeley utopia once in awhile and face the real world guys: this is not a very enlightened country yet people. It's going to take time for us to join the advanced world. Obama can't do it overnight and fix the worst economy since the Great Depression at the same time.

It is really amazing that people either intentionally, or out of ignorance, say what they do here. Let's review the facts:

1) Obama said he's end the war in Iraq responsibly. He's doing that now.

2) Obama said he'd re-focus our military efforts in Afghanistan, as he realized that the Taliban is trying to spread extreme Islamic fundamentalism throughout the world, starting in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Northern Africa, etc. He and some others seem to be among the few who understand this threat - the world's next great threat, if you look at it closely.

3) He said he'd pass health care reform. He tried to get a public option through, but Lieberman (he of the insurance company headquarters State - Connecticut) blocked it, so Obama and the Democrats got the best bill possible given the industry-funded Republican opposition and the Blue-Dog Democratic opposition.

4) He signed a student loan bill that saved the government billions of dollars by taking giveaways to big banks away and having the government lend directly to students (eliminating the costly middlemen - banks).

5) He saved millions of jobs by rescuing the auto industry. If this hadn't happened, we'd have unemployment of close to 15%, which the Republicans would have blamed on Obama - despite their opposition to Obama's efforts to save all these jobs (and the companies are much more efficient now, with unions agreeing to huge cuts).

6) He, early on, signed stem-cell legislation that will, eventually, contribute to helping millions of Americans (including Tea-Partyers and Republicans and the Professional Left) recover from horrible diseases and injuries.

The list is much longer than this, but you can check all of these promises and what he has kept, what still needs to be kept, and what hasn't been able to be kept (because, usually, of opposition from Republicans - who then blame HIM for not keeping the promises)on the Web. Not hard to do.

In short, Obama has tried, against incredible opposition that resorts to lie after lie, and disinformation that would make the Soviet-era Communists proud, to put America back on track.

One simple way to see this is to look at a jobs chart, and see the hundreds of thousands of jobs, per month, that the U.S. was losing when he took office, and see the remarkable turnaround once he took over.

It's easy and (on a caveman level) fun to simplistically criticize what he's done, but this is not a joke, and if Republican policies had been continued for four more years (a la MCCain/Palin), our middle class would have lost millions more jobs - which is the goal of the Republicans, by the way (so that there will be an upper class, and a huge lower class serving that upper class). Obama is trying to prevent that, i.e., prevent us from becoming a Third-World country. Republicans don't care about the middle class or the poor, but use the media to convince these poor folks to vote for them (by invoking abortion, etc.).

It's about time!!! Democrats have sat back and allowed Republicans to demonize, vilify and disrespect the Democratic President of the United States. They have shown little support for him. They expect for him to take the heat but when things don't go right they whine and blame him just as much as Republicans do. Where were they when Joe Wilson called the President liar? Where have they been in supporting his efforts on health care reform? Where have they been in demanding the same respect for the President as Republicans demanded for Bush? Democrats, all of them have been a bunch of wimps and now they have the nerve to whine because Gibbs called them on it?

The so called self proclaimed voices on the left have barely supported this president or offered any workable ideas. But they will sit on the sidelines, stomachs and bank accounts full, and gripe about Bush Cheney war crimes and whatever else that doesn't help the economy. They are as lame as the right wing and the President and a sizable portion of the electorate are right to tune them out.

There is only one "reality" for Robert Gibbs: His job for the next 6 years! And anybody who doesn't like how things are under Obama must, therefore, be "crazy!"

Well, Mr. Gibbs. Every story has two sides. And the "professional left" - count me in, too - doesn't like where America is under Obama today - either financially, socially, or as a target of increasingly hostility in every corner of the world. And that will not be reversed with insults, nor with a strategy of "the best defense is an offense" within the democratic party.

Are we crazy? Are we in-line for a psychotic evaluation? Or is the white house now in a shotgun hunt to keep Obama from slipping further down in the polls? Well, the "professional right" is already predicting a big win in November. And if it did, it won't be the "professional left's fault." It will be the white house's fault - period!

Now, this white house has become famous of hatching its policies in discussions flooded with obscenities(CBS 60 Minutes), and the recent "f...ing good deal" by VP Joe Biden before a press conference proves that civility is lacking at the highest office ion the land! How about some civility in policy making; stop swinging at disaffected democrats; stop the stupid war in Afghanistan; stop pushing the disastrous stricken government of Pakistan to kill more Taliban to get our promised aid; cut down the bloated military bureaucracy (45 Army Generals in Europe? Doing what? There is no Soviet Union today!), and plow the saving into our economy with projects for jobs - not with freebie stimulus packages that are wasted for nothing!

I am done, but I am not going to call a psychiatrist for an appointment. There is nothing wrong with the "professional left." But there is something wrong with the white house collective thinking and attitude. The white house, therefore, needs urgently an introspection on its failures up to now. Obama's sliding will not be reversed with swinging and names calling. Nikos Retsos, retired professor

There is only one "reality" for Robert Gibbs: His job for the next 6 years! And anybody who doesn't like how things are under Obama must, therefore, be "crazy!"

Well, Mr. Gibbs. Every story has two sides. And the "professional left" - count me in, too - doesn't like where America is under Obama today - either financially, socially, or as a target of increasingly hostility in every corner of the world. And that will not be reversed with insults, nor with a strategy of "the best defense is an offense" within the democratic party.

Are we crazy? Are we in-line for a psychotic evaluation? Or is the white house now in a shotgun hunt to keep Obama from slipping further down in the polls? Well, the "professional right" is already predicting a big win in November. And if it did, it won't be the "professional left's fault." It will be the white house's fault - period!

Now, this white house has become famous of hatching its policies in discussions flooded with obscenities(CBS 60 Minutes), and the recent "f...ing good deal" by VP Joe Biden before a press conference proves that civility is lacking at the highest office ion the land! How about some civility in policy making; stop swinging at disaffected democrats; stop the stupid war in Afghanistan; stop pushing the disastrous stricken government of Pakistan to kill more Taliban to get our promised aid; cut down the bloated military bureaucracy (45 Army Generals in Europe? Doing what? There is no Soviet Union today!), and plow the saving into our economy with projects for jobs - not with freebie stimulus packages that are wasted for nothing!

I am done, but I am not going to call a psychiatrist for an appointment. There is nothing wrong with the "professional left." But there is something wrong with the white house collective thinking and attitude. The white house, therefore, needs urgently an introspection on its failures up to now. Obama's sliding will not be reversed with swinging and names calling. Nikos Retsos, retired professor

There is only one "reality" for Robert Gibbs: His job for the next 6 years! And anybody who doesn't like how things are under Obama must, therefore, be "crazy!"

Well, Mr. Gibbs. Every story has two sides. And the "professional left" - count me in, too - doesn't like where America is under Obama today - either financially, socially, or as a target of increasingly hostility in every corner of the world. And that will not be reversed with insults, nor with a strategy of "the best defense is an offense" within the democratic party.

Are we crazy? Are we in-line for a psychotic evaluation? Or is the white house now in a shotgun hunt to keep Obama from slipping further down in the polls? Well, the "professional right" is already predicting a big win in November. And if it did, it won't be the "professional left's fault." It will be the white house's fault - period!

Now, this white house has become famous of hatching its policies in discussions flooded with obscenities(CBS 60 Minutes), and the recent "f...ing good deal" by VP Joe Biden before a press conference proves that civility is lacking at the highest office ion the land! How about some civility in policy making; stop swinging at disaffected democrats; stop the stupid war in Afghanistan; stop pushing the disastrous stricken government of Pakistan to kill more Taliban to get our promised aid; cut down the bloated military bureaucracy (45 Army Generals in Europe? Doing what? There is no Soviet Union today!), and plow the saving into our economy with projects for jobs - not with freebie stimulus packages that are wasted for nothing!

I am done, but I am not going to call a psychiatrist for an appointment. There is nothing wrong with the "professional left." But there is something wrong with the white house collective thinking and attitude. The white house, therefore, needs urgently an introspection on its failures up to now. Obama's sliding will not be reversed with swinging and names calling. Nikos Retsos, retired professor

There is only one "reality" for Robert Gibbs: His job for the next 6 years! And anybody who doesn't like how things are under Obama must, therefore, be "crazy!"

Well, Mr. Gibbs. Every story has two sides. And the "professional left" - count me in, too - doesn't like where America is under Obama today - either financially, socially, or as a target of increasingly hostility in every corner of the world. And that will not be reversed with insults, nor with a strategy of "the best defense is an offense" within the democratic party.

Are we crazy? Are we in-line for a psychotic evaluation? Or is the white house now in a shotgun hunt to keep Obama from slipping further down in the polls? Well, the "professional right" is already predicting a big win in November. And if it did, it won't be the "professional left's fault." It will be the white house's fault - period!

Now, this white house has become famous of hatching its policies in discussions flooded with obscenities(CBS 60 Minutes), and the recent "f...ing good deal" by VP Joe Biden before a press conference proves that civility is lacking at the highest office ion the land! How about some civility in policy making; stop swinging at disaffected democrats; stop the stupid war in Afghanistan; stop pushing the disastrous stricken government of Pakistan to kill more Taliban to get our promised aid; cut down the bloated military bureaucracy (45 Army Generals in Europe? Doing what? There is no Soviet Union today!), and plow the saving into our economy with projects for jobs - not with freebie stimulus packages that are wasted for nothing!

I am done, but I am not going to call a psychiatrist for an appointment. There is nothing wrong with the "professional left." But there is something wrong with the white house collective thinking and attitude. The white house, therefore, needs urgently an introspection on its failures up to now. Obama's sliding will not be reversed with swinging and names calling. Nikos Retsos, retired professor

Injucisious, impolitic, or not, Gibbs might well have been voicing my thoughts.

I started out on the far left during the Vietnam War era -- but I quickly saw that my brothers and sisters on the far left were actually part of the problem, rather than an active part of the solution. They acted out emotionally and displayed their uncontrolled and often undirected anger wantonly and with little regard for its affect on stated goals.

Worse, as I gained a more realistic and nuanced grasp of economics, I started seeing that the emotionally satisfying, simplistic solutions offered up by my colleagues often belied a profound ignorance of the basic facts of how economic systems work.

Like the irrational, willfully self-ignorant know-nothings who form a large part of the current Republican base, there are many on the left who have simply checked their intellect at the door of their ideology.

Yes indeed, however it is Mr. Gibbs and his boss Mr. Obama who have failed to grasp just how far off track this country has gone and how much change is urgently needed. What has been done to date is in many cases much less significant and enduring than billed.

At least the Republicans have the good grace to court their base. This administration, though, treats the left with contempt. Unbelievable.

Oh, and for the record, this country would be better off with Canadian style health care (single payer) and a much smaller military budget. There is no need, sixty years after WWII and twenty some odd years after the collapse of the USSR, to have the world's largest military in the history of civilization. The amount of schools, bridges, et al we could build with that bloated monstrosity's money -- it's beyond infuriating.

The fact that Mr. Gibbs is incapable of recognizing this truth speaks volumes.

It's so much fun watching the left and Obama's agenda implode right before our eyes.
The lefties are finding out two things;

First, Obama is arrogant,inexperienced, inept and lacks the leadership ability to pull off the agenda of the radical left. Secondly, they are quickly finding out he will throw anyone under the bus who criticizes him.

Gibbs is about to learn this as he is about one more guffaw from gone.

Still wasting money on unnecessary wars. Still throwing people in jail without trial. Still eavesdropping on phone calls. Still bowing to corporate interests. Obama is just like Bush, only he's smarter, which might make him even more dangerous.

To the couple of posters who believe Obama is doing a good job, WAKE UP!! He is selling you and your children down the river of no return! He is turning you into a slave! joeT1, Obama is not a socialist, he is far LEFT of being a socialist. Try Marxist!! Far worse. He only conned people by pretending to be a centrist. He is the liar-in-chief. Hopefully, the dems will do themselves in before the election. We will not have a country if this mess keeps going for 2 more years.

The obsequious media have been left scrambling to explain this new Orwellian barn wall: Bush’s aristocratic golf is now Obama’s needed relaxation; Bush’s bumbling press conferences might explain why Obama wisely doesn’t hold many at all; Republican congressional corruption simply led to a “They all do it, even Democrats” narrative; Bush’s failure to articulate how and why we would win in Iraq suddenly morphs into Afghanistan as a baffling experience that confuses all of us. Obviously, even the most adept public-relations-minded journalist could not pull all that off, and so we are left with media now as discredited as they are loathed.

About a dozen food stamp recipients in Detroit, a couple crack-ho's in Newark and those idiots at Government Motors cranking out the electric vehicle that goes nowhere...both figuratively and literally.

He is in the cuspid of comedy-entertainment spectrum...whiout him,... we the audience out here (republicans, democrats, independents) we will never get so hilarious and suculent 'clown-like effect' that at times - due to the intrincate problematics of our times - comes so refreshing.

I'm a Democrat, but you can't hang the Gates thing around Bush. He chose to keep Gates. As for Geithner, he's an academic, in a non-academic position. Former head of the New York Fed. Always a policy wonk, never a boss. Whether you thought it was a good or bad idea, he could never do what Paulson did and put a bullet through the head of Lehmann Bros. He wouldn't have had the standing. If you have ever heard him speak, it's an embarassment how ineffective he is at making a point.

You're right about Perrino, but let's be realistic. The end of a second term is usually junior varsity play time. It's not as if anybody WANTED her as Secretary.

Revisionist history is favorite game one the right. Obama promised to bring "more transparency" to Washington. More pointedly not to hire lobbyist for the administration. Although a couple did get in, it's leaps and bounds better then the pubes ever did or WILL ever do.

Without the support in congress, which has NEVER been there, closing Guantanomo is not even possible, so this is a red herring.

Prosperity takes time, the mess left by Bush was wide spread and in virtually every dept. in Washington, it will take time, at least he's stopped the hemorrhaging of jobs, although I suspect there's more trouble ahead. Perhaps the pubes should stop blocking every bill that goes through the senate!

He's failed to deliver what? A comprehensive energy bill is the only thing that has failed to get through the senate of the big items. Aside for bills on the economy that the pubes have blocked nearly wholesale. I'm curious to see how that plays among the independents!

So, as usual a supposed list provided by, no doubt a pube, is empty rhetoric, just like the list of republican "ideas."

Let's run this by one more time; Obama wants our money, but isn't going to do anything more to please us. That's not going to happen. If he's going to be a Centrist, then he's going to have to depend on centrist money.

The American people were hijacked by this president. The sad part of this is that no one even cared about his past, his politics, his associations, his thoughts about changing our country to his socialist upbringing and none of this was hidden. It was all there for you Obama supporters to see and you all voted for him. Maybe the next time Americans go to the polls to elect a president they should do their homework. You all did not do yours and now we are stuck with this president who does not like our country in every way and tends to destroy it but I am hoping the Americans will stop this hijacking at the polls.

The American people were hijacked by this president. The sad part of this is that no one even cared about his past, his politics, his associations, his thoughts about changing our country to his socialist upbringing and none of this was hidden. It was all there for you Obama supporters to see and you all voted for him. Maybe the next time Americans go to the polls to elect a president they should do their homework. You all did not do yours and now we are stuck with this president who does not like our country in every way and tends to destroy it but I am hoping the Americans will stop this hijacking at the polls.

The American people were hijacked by this president. The sad part of this is that no one even cared about his past, his politics, his associations, his thoughts about changing our country to his socialist upbringing and none of this was hidden. It was all there for you Obama supporters to see and you all voted for him. Maybe the next time Americans go to the polls to elect a president they should do their homework. You all did not do yours and now we are stuck with this president who does not like our country in every way and tends to destroy it but I am hoping the Americans will stop this hijacking at the polls.

So, who exactly is the Obama administration representing? The right hates them, they've lost the centrists and now they are telling the left to bugger off. Obama could lose re-election in Mondale proportions.

So, who exactly is the Obama administration representing? The right hates them, they've lost the centrists and now they are telling the left to bugger off. Obama could lose re-election in Mondale proportions.

Its all about what you set your eyes on. Is it votes and loving the position and privilege of your station or do you love the american people and this country more than that. only god has the answers that cover the depth of our hearts and our real desires but sometimes it is telling broken promises and rushes to judgement mount and the country in the throes and wake of economical crisis and other affairs and especially this war will have a harshly critical eye and politicians should be weary say what you mean mean what you say and then pray because god is watching and he always comes when something is broken and this nation is broken

Its all about what you set your eyes on. Is it votes and loving the position and privilege of your station or do you love the american people and this country more than that. only god has the answers that cover the depth of our hearts and our real desires but sometimes it is telling broken promises and rushes to judgement mount and the country in the throes and wake of economical crisis and other affairs and especially this war will have a harshly critical eye and politicians should be weary say what you mean mean what you say and then pray because god is watching and he always comes when something is broken and this nation is broken

Gibbs has been a nightmare as Press Secretary. Hard to imagine a more ineffective spokesman. This is unfortunately all too typical of the Obama Administration, picking people who are too small for the job they hold. Think Geithner, Clinton and Gates as lacking weight in their fields.

Although I suppose I am of the left, in that my positions on a majority of issues so aligns me, I am not an adolescent moron, and,
therefore, avoid both the contemporary left and the right.

Obama's promises re Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo were patently asinine, transparently inoperable, and any disappointed leftists have only their teenage impressionism to blame. Indeed, the voted for The One.

As for health care, he was weak on it throughout the campaign. That was obvious to all but card-carrying disciples.

In fact, Gibbs is being to kind with the phrase "Professional Left." Scmucky Left would have been more accurate.

The presidency is but one branch of our government. Seems like the majority of commentary here is driven by intentional misinformation. Biased and baseless rants that have no basis in fact and a complete disregard for rational analysis.

Obama has done an excellent job in the face of a united horde of monied interests. Certainly the party of biz, the GOP, but also they have been joined by a number of Dems who are also beholden to monied interests.

The fact is, our whole government, from local to federal, is excessively deferential to the wealthy, and it's not because the wealthy are indispensable. The real problem lies with an electorate that not only tolerates personal advantage over love of country, and the well being of all, but a good number actually embrace the doctrine of might is right. That the better off are fully entitled to exploit whatever and whomever they can.

That is the basis of all the tea party grandstanding. That is what drives the absurd statements of fiction by FOX news. It's all about the 'haves' circling the wagons to against the 'have nots'. The attempts last summer to shout down any intelligent political discourse, is the same sort of scorched earth tactic used in these blogs by so many. These people are not patriots, these people are cynical and calculated. Their interest is in protecting a system that unduly benefits themselves at the expense of working people.

President Obama has consistently pushed for policy that serves the interests of all Americans, not just those who are used to getting a free ride. Read the tax code and tell me how business is so unfairly treated in this country. Then I can clearly call you a liar - and prove it with fact.

Keep a promise that would be a start. What ever happened to letting the American people see the health care debate live on C-Span? is there any one out there stupid enough to wonder why Obama lied to us about this?; and get a new press secretary.Gibbs is a condescending jerk I can't imagine anyone but his mom liking him.
What ever happened to change we can believe in? Mr President did you mean we have to wait until you are voted out of office? Why have you chosen to lie to the American public on so many occasions? And please stop blaming Bush for everything it makes you sound like a little girl. Did you teach your little girls to lie the way you do? I am embarrassed to say I voted for you. As always keep those comments coming. I can be contacted at work http://www.usa-businessreview.com were still in Beta so me and Obama are all doing the same thing. Watching the paint dry. I wish my boss would give be enough time off the get in some golf

Everyone blames the Obama administration for the current situation--an economy in the dumps, two wars, and not passing a slew of legislation that should have been addressed years ago. He's only been in office 17 months. In that time...
-The economy has improved from the brink of depression.

There have been stumbles. None of these changes are perfect, and far more needs to be done. But we're heading in the right direction, and people need to step back and start taking some responsibility for where we were instead of just complaining about where we are.

Strange strategy coming into the mid-terms indeed. Gibbs goes after the left, Pelosi tells House members to vote for health care reform even if it hurts their chances for re-election, Holder sues the State of Arizona, Obama decides to let the Bush tax cuts expire. Corzine, Deeds and Coakley all lost to Republicans but Democrats still ignore the handwriting on the wall.

I look at Obama today and all I can think is "what a waste of a perfectly good vote". Change has not come. Nor is his presidency any more transparent than past administrations. So far all I have seen is Obama spending all his time and effort paying back the special interest groups that helped elect him. I am a moderate Republican who crossed party lines to vote for Obama. So I guess I share in the shame of voting stupidly. Won't happen a second time I guarantee you.

Emanuel and Gibbs should never again let anyone outside their immediate circle see or hear their whining and crying about how frustrated and disappointed they are that everyone doesn't agree that they and their principal are just all-so-wonderful. All that their whining and crying accomplishes is to irritate their base supporters and embolden their enemies. It also makes them and their principal look juvenile. Both Emanuel and Gibbs seem to have a major problem with immaturity.

But, Why is The Anti-Christ Obama Destroying America. If you truly want to know what is going on; Then you will have to accept these things as the TRUTH. Once you understand the following things; All things will be understood. So I tell you Obama is Satan on Earth, Lawless One, or what ever else you want to call this Demonic Figure. His words describe him, He is a False Hope, If you listen to him you will love him. He carries a Bow without an Arrow. He will conquer all through his speech, his false hoods will capture all who sit and listen to him.
2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
11And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

This should set off a victory celebration among the Professional Right, since this is going exactly according to their script.

You might call it the "pig%$#@er technique", after the 1970 sheriff's race in Aspen, CO, when the challenger started a rumor that the incumbent had sexual congress with pigs. An aide asked the candidate, "You actually have evidence of this?", to which the candidate responded, "Of course not, but let's make him deny it." Only today, the charge is "socialism".

So, the administration attacks the left, trying to neutralize attacks FROM the right, which everyone who remembers anything from the last 40 years knows, will never work.

CORRUPT-O-CRATS, My party, the Democratic party will lose 70 House seats. Why, Obama, Rangel and Waters, Obama bribes, kickbacks, backroom deals, payoffs all seen first hand by America, Rangel, corrupt and dishonest, waters, robery, theif of the treasury. The American public is mad as hell, there will be payback. It is time to DUMP OBAMA, he is the leader of the CORRUPT-O-CRATS, we must trun our backs on him now and show the public the Democratic party is not the party of the CORRUPT.

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